How to Create a Mind Map: Examples, Benefits, and Uses

Mind maps are everywhere — think of spiderweb diagrams from school, word clouds for websites, or even the most recent page of your notebook covered with circles and arrows. With an abundance of information swirling around, our brains have a lot to process. 

Mind maps help us untangle and organize multiple ideas, complex projects, and scattered communications to better learn, understand, and interpret our work. They also make us more effective teammates by highlighting connections between workflows, teams, or projects.

Learn how to effectively integrate mind mapping into your workflows to enhance teamwork, boost creativity, and improve project collaboration.

What is a mind map?

A mind map is a diagram used to represent related ideas, organized around a central concept. Mind maps are valuable workplace tools for understanding complex ideas and highlighting connections between them. Mind maps include:

• Central theme or concept. A core idea, such as the name or topic of a project or campaign.
• Branches and associations. These include related themes, sub-themes, and ideas that stem from the core concept.
• Keywords, colors, and visuals. Simple keywords describe each concept, and various colors represent different layers on the map, providing clarity and memory retention.

Mind mapping bolsters productivity systems, allowing teams to organize their thoughts efficiently. They also enable creativity and understanding, especially in brainstorming sessions. Because of their highly visual nature, mind maps break down communication gaps to support better workflows with teammates across cultures, languages, and async collaboration settings.

Key parts of a mind map

Mind maps can take many different formats, but they all include the following features that distinguish them from other planning or brainstorming tools.

• Centralized structure. Everything starts from a core idea in the center, keeping everyone focused.
• Hierarchical organization. Branches radiate from the core idea, making it clear where ideas stem from and their importance level.
• Keywords and short phrases. These keep ideas concise and scannable, similar to what you see in a textbook or on a slide presentation.
• Visual cues (colors, icons, and images). These elements boost memory and creativity through visual connections. For example, ideas in the same layer use the same color or emoji.
• Flexible and nonlinear format. Mind maps aren’t constrained by standard document formatting. Complex ideas can expand in multiple directions on a mind map.

How to create a mind map: step-by-step guide

Regardless of the format or template you choose, follow these steps to create a successful document.

Step 1: Define your central idea

Write your main topic in the center of the page. This is the focal point of your mind map and the grounding concept. For example, you might choose a project title or the core theme of a brand campaign.

Step 2: Add main branches

Choose three to five main branches that stem from your central idea. Using our brand campaign example, you might draft three short phrases or taglines that embody the campaign theme.

Step 3: Expand with sub-branches

Create branches for subtopics and related ideas stemming from the main branches, using keywords or short phrases to aid quick understanding and deepening of the main branch ideas.

Step 4: Use keywords, images, and colors

Visuals help with clarity and memory retention. Use short keywords for each idea and distinct colors or shapes to represent different layers of the map. Perhaps color the core idea at the center red, the main branches orange, and the sub-themes yellow.

Step 5: Organize and refine your map

The ongoing nature of mind mapping, especially with evolving or new projects, requires regular editing and updating as new ideas emerge.

Benefits of mind mapping

You’ve learned about the key parts of a mind map and how to put one together, but why add them to the agenda? Mind maps improve productivity, creativity, and teamwork by producing an effective, visual-based thinking tool.

• Enhances creativity and problem-solving. Mind mapping encourages free thinking, allowing teammates or brainstorm participants to explore ideas without constraints. Visually branching out thoughts can help people spot new connections, take a new perspective, and uncover unexpected solutions.
• Simplifies complex topics. Breaking down dense information into bite-size visual pieces usually makes it easier to work with. Whether it’s used for a large project, an overload of ideas, or complicated source material, mind mapping transforms something overwhelming into something you can act on.
• Improves retention and learning. Visual aids like mind maps organize information by grouping, color-coding, linking, and more. It can make content easier to understand at a glance. Especially for visual thinkers who remember what they’ve seen, mind maps can help with recalling key points and the overall structure of an idea.
• Boosts collaboration. Mind maps make it easy to jump into a brainstorming session where ideas are captured and built on. A shared visual layout can help teams get on the same page (literally and figuratively) and spark momentum.

Examples of mind mapping

Mind mapping has many real-world applications, whether you’re strategizing with a team or thinking through ideas on your own. Here are just some of the ways these visual tools can help turn concepts into actionable strategies.

Brainstorming new campaign ideas

Using our brand campaign example again, a mind map helps define the goals and purpose of the campaign. Later in the process, mind mapping can also identify new ideas, potential taglines, headlines, and sub-headlines for the group to refine together or asynchronously.

Planning a major project or product launch

Product launches can define and elevate a business. Use mind mapping to condense information, documents, spreadsheets, and links shared across multiple teams and workplace tools into distinct phases, each with different goals and tactics outlined.

Reimagining meeting notes and task delegation

Try mind mapping as an effective alternative to the standard, linear format of meeting notes and action items. Key ideas discussed in the meeting become branches on the map, with the action items taking the form of sub-branches.

Improving learning and training sessions

Everyone retains information differently, making it challenging to facilitate a learning or training session that works for all involved. The visual quality of mind maps allows facilitators to organize ideas and sub-ideas so attendees understand the core concepts and ideas at a glance.

Best practices for effective mind mapping

A good mind mapping session has structure to keep everyone organized and focused. These best practices ensure a successful session.

• Keep maps simple and uncluttered. Stick to the three core elements: central idea, main branches, and sub-branches.
• Use visuals and color coding strategically. Use colors, images, and icons in your mind map to make it visually appealing and easier to comprehend.
• Encourage collaborative participation. Invite all team members to contribute ideas, making sure diverse perspectives are represented.
• Review and revise. After brainstorming sessions, review the mind map together and make necessary adjustments based on team feedback.

How to do mind mapping in Slack

Mind mapping works well for individual learning and organization, but its real power is in its benefits to a team. The Slack work operating system is designed for team communication, including mind mapping, thanks to powerful integrations and features.

Brainstorming sessions in Slack huddles or channels

Set up a dedicated Slack channel or synchronous Slack huddles for brainstorming sessions to fuel a mind map. The channels feature works best when embracing flexible scheduling, so team members can contribute when it suits them best. Use the spaces to share ideas, images, and links related to your mind map’s central idea. These distinct features keep text, audio, and video-based conversations organized while allowing members to focus on specific topics.

Using Slack canvas for visual organization

Use a Slack canvas to share screenshots, photos, or graphics to include on the mind map. Visual aids and resources collected in one canvas within a Slack channel boost understanding and group engagement during the collaborative process.

Integrating mind mapping apps

Use apps that integrate with Slack to support mind mapping. The Miro integration allows users to create mind maps within Slack and customize notifications about updates. MeisterTask, in conjunction with MindMeister, can turn brainstormed ideas into actionable tasks. These tools allow users to work seamlessly across apps within Slack, supporting strong collaboration strategies.

Integrating mind mapping into your Slack workflow can improve and streamline collaboration and creativity among team members. By using the cross-functional team collaboration features in the platform, you can engage members from various departments or external partnerships. As one of the best collaboration tools, Slack combines with integrations to support mind mapping, balancing creativity and productivity in the workplace.

Mind map FAQs